nuclear-news

Japan’s nuclear refugees – six months later

Six Months: The Nuclear Refugees, WSJ, 9 Sept 11, Since becoming self-appointed “nuclear refugees” in early July, Minako Ishigooka and her 14-month-old son have been living in a single room in a hostel in Naha, the prefectural seat of the southern island chain of Okinawa.

Just a few blocks away, the city’s main commercial strip is bustling with vacationers, but Ms. Ishigoooka’s days are spent on mundane tasks like making meals for her son and taking him out for walks. After he goes down for the night, she sits at the inn’s communal computer until 2 a.m. to gather news about radiation on Twitter.

She and her son have been to the beach only once but that doesn’t bother her. “At least here, I can let him play outside,” the 35-year-old mother from Tokyo says.

Fears of flare-ups in the nuclear situation or worries about radiation contamination of food have driven some residents of cities hundreds of kilometers from the disaster-struck Fukushima Daiichi plant to seek new homes. Many of them are mothers with young children like Ms. Ishigooka — the group most vulnerable to the potential effects of radiation……

One thing that makes the life rewarding for the nuclear refugees is the warm welcome from the local residents. Ms. Tatsuno says the nuclear evacuees have one thing in common with the Okinawans, who have long felt they were made to shoulder the burden of hosting U.S. bases to protect the entire nation: Deep mistrust of the government in Tokyo.

“They understand that whenever the government uses the word ‘safe’,  you have to take it with a pinch of  salt,” she says…. http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2011/09/09/six-months-the-nuclear-refugees/

September 10, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | environment, Japan